VirtualBox on Mac OSX Windows 7 Guest Remote Desktop

• VirtualBox 4.1.18 r78361
• Host: Max OSX 10.7.4 64bit
• Guest: Windows 7 64bit

But rather than via the VirtualBox GUI view mode I'd like to run it headless and use MS Remote Desktop so I can use it from another computer or on the same machine.

I really struggled to get the configuration right so I could connect to it at all, but also when not connected to a network (e.g. on a train). These are the settings I eventually used (if I don't mention a setting I have left it as default):

On The Host

• Virtual Box: Preferences (i.e. for the application not VM); Network; Host only Networks; vboxnet0; settings (screwdriver icon):
• Adapter:
• IPv4 Address: 192.168.X.Y (X/Y = subnet/IP that you aren't using e.g. 100/100)
• IPv4 Net Mask: 255.255.255.0
• DHCP: Enabled
• Address: 192.168.100.100
• Server mask: 255.255.255.0
• Lower: 192.168.100.101
• Upper: 192.168.100.254
• Virtual Box; [Virtual Machine Name] Settings:
• Display:
• Remote Display: Enabled
• Server Port: 3389
• Auth Method: Null (I found anything other than null didn't work this solution may fix that)
• Network:
• Adapter 1: Enabled
• Attached to: Host only
• Name: vboxnet0
• Advanced: Cable connected (leave other settings)
• Adapter 2: Enabled
• Attached to: Bridged Adapter
• Name: Wi-Fi (Airport)
• Advanced: cable connected (leave others)

With these settings your VM should boot with two networks: the VirtualBox (local to the host only) one and the bridged (internet/LAN) one.

On the VM
With the settings above, boot your Win 7 VM and check Control Panel; Network and Sharing Center. You should have the two networks there. For me the VBox one was set to public and not editable (so I can't change the type from Public to Work/Home).

It seems Windows won't let you change this unless you've set the Gateway so I edited the adapter settings to add the DHCP server on 192.168.100.100 as the Gateway: Change adapter settings; Internal; right click; Properties; Internet Protocol v4 Properties; Advanced; Default Gateways; Add. After you have done this the popup should come up to set the connection type: Home, Workplace or Public.


Troubleshooting

If these points don't work for you you could try some other things I found whilst looking for answers:

• MaxNumFilters: The maximum number of network connections Windows 7 can handle is set in the key below, it may be that your system has exceeded it: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\MaxNumFilters